‘Day of Rage’ in Palestine Over US Stance on Israeli Settlements

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank protested Tuesday to reject the announcement made last week by the United States through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who stated that Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank are not “inconsistent with international law.”

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Thousands of people met in several cities of the West Bank including Ramallah where they gathered by midday, as schools, universities, and public offices were all closed. the demonstrators intended to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration which abandoned a 40-year-long position of U.S. policy regarding Israeli settlements, by endorsing Israel’s illegal settlements at the expense of the peace process and the two states solution.

"The biased American policy toward Israel, and the American support of the Israeli settlements and the Israeli occupation, leaves us with only one option: to go back to resistance," Mahmoud Aloul, an official with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, told the crowd in Ramallah.

Demonstrators held signs reading: "Trump to impeachment, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to jail, the occupation will go and we will remain on our land."

In the city of Nablus, they set the U.S. and Israeli flags on fire for what they denounced as  Washington's positive bias towards the occupation of the Palestinian lands by Israel.

More than 70 demonstrators were injured by Israeli security forces as a result of the use of excessive tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.

The U.S. move regarding the Jewish settlements was welcomed by Israeli leaders while Palestinians and the majority of the international community condemned them arguing they seriously threaten hopes for a two-state solution.

According to several United Nations Security Council resolutions, Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they violate the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Geneva Convention of which the U.S. is a signatory says an occupying power cannot move its civilian population into the territory it occupies. There are around 200 official Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with about 620,000 residents, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

On the other hand, the demonstrations took place just hours after the death of a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody following a three-year battle against intestinal cancer. Organizers had -before his death- called for the release of Sami Abu Diak, 36, to allow him to spend his last moments at the side of his family. Israeli authorities, however, denied the request.

Abu Diak had been jailed for 17 years since his arrest during the second Palestinian Intifada in 2002.